The Impending Crisis
1840’s tensions between North and South swell
North—increasingly powerful abolitionist movement
South—more militant defense of slavery and Southern way of life
West—a series of controversies that strain the Union…
1. Looking Westward
a. Manifest Destiny—ideology of nationalism and vision of social perfection
i. Territorial ambitions swept much of country
b. Americans in Texas
i. American Immigration to Texas—(7k in 1830) out# Mexicans 2:1
ii. Adopt American style of government
iii. Independence declared (1836)--Alamo
iv. Texan retreat—General Sam Houston
v. Battle of San Jacinto (4/36)—Gen. Santa Anna captured
vi. Annexation blocked by Jackson
c. Oregon
i. “Joint Occupation”—British and Americans (1818)
ii. Growing American presence beginning in 1820s
1. British out#ed and Indians devastated
2. pressure on U.S. government
d. The Westward Migration
i. Characteristics of migrants
1. Most from NW, families, young
ii. Oregon Trail—major route west form MO to OR
1. Difficult journey (about 6 mos.)
2. Indian assistance common
2. Expansion and War—pressures lead to conflict
a. Democrats and Expansion
i. Election of 1844—avoidance of Texas issue
1. Henry Clay—Whig, KY
2. James K. Polk—Dem., TN
a. re-occupation of OR & re-annexation of TX
b. an appeal to both North & South expansionists
ii. Texas annexed (2/45)—statehood (12/45)—Tyler
iii. Compromise over Oregon
1. “54º40’ or fight!”—war averted, boundary fixed (6/46)
b. The Southwest and California
i. Texas boundary dispute—Rio Grande vs. Nueces
1. Gen. Zachary Taylor to protect against invasion
ii. New Mexico—much like Texas in 1830’s
iii. California
1. instructions for Pacific navy to seize ports
2. Americans in CA would favor revolt
c. The Mexican War
i. War Declared
1. Taylor’s army moves to Rio Grande after $ offer spurned
2. accounts unclear about who shot first—Whigs cry foul
3. 5/46 Congress overwhelmingly declares war
ii. Other offensives
1. New Mexico conquered (summer ‘46)
2. California Republic (Bear Flag Revolt) (fall ‘46)
a. Settlers and American Navy
iii. Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo (2/48)
1. NM and CA ceded to U.S.
3. The Sectional Debate—Polk loses favor with northerners and westerners
a. Slavery and the Territories
i. Wilmot Proviso—slavery prohibited in new territories—failed
ii. Sectional Debate
1. MO compromise line extended or popular sovereignty?
iii. Election of 1848
1. Cass, D-MI
2. Taylor, Whig-LA
3. Van Buren, Free-Soil Party, NY—10% of popular vote*
a. Slavery question could not be contained
b. The California Gold Rush 1848
i. “49ers”—fevered migration (95% men)
ii. Chinese immigrants
iii. Labor shortage—Indians exploited
c. Rising Sectional tensions
i. CA admitted as a free state?
ii. other controversies of importance
1. abolition of slavery in DC?
2. return of runaway slaves to South? (personal liberty laws)
3. new free states would upset balance (15 each)
d. The Compromise of 1850
i. Henry Clay’s idea—7 mo. debate
1. CA as free state
2. territorial governments without restrictions on slavery
3. abolition of slave trade in DC
4. new fugitive slave law
ii. July, 1850—Pres. Taylor dies
1. Millard Fillmore, NY—dull and dignified
a. Stressed flexibility—supported compromise
iii. New generation of politicians—Stephen Douglas among them
1. “omnibus bill” broken down
iv. Compromise achieved
4. The Crises of the 1850’s
a. The Uneasy Truce and 1852 election—Whigs divided
i. Franklin Pierce—Dem, NH
1. wins handily—Fugitive Slave Law often ignored
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ii. General Winfield Scott—Whigs, NJ
iii. John P. Hale—Free-soil, NH
“Young America”—expansion of democracy
i. Ostend manifesto—Case for taking Cuba by force
1. a new slave state?
Slavery, RR and the West
i. Further settlement of MO, IA, and MN
1. raised issues of RR and Slavery
ii. Transcontinental RR and Slavery—where?
1. Gadsen Purchase—10 mil. For strip of Mexican land
The Kansas-Nebraska Controversy
i. Kansas-Nebraska Act—Stephen A. Douglas--Dem, IL
1. an effort to organize territory for RR and expansion
2. “popular sovereignty” in new territory
3. repealing of MO Compromise
4. two territories instead of one
ii. Passes in May of 1854—effects
1. Whigs divided and destroyed
2. Northern Democrats divided
3. Anti-Nebraskans form the Republican Party in 1854
a. Instant success
Bleeding Kansas
i. White settlement booms—election of pro slavery govt.
ii. Free-staters support a constitution that excludes slavery
1. labeled as traitors—federal marshals intervene
iii. Pottawatomie massacre—John Brown—5 settlers killed
iv. Other violence throughout Kansas
v. Senator Charles Sumner (MS) Caned 5/56
1. insults Andrew P. Butler of SC
2. Preston Brooks Rep, MS attacks Sumner in the chamber
3. symbols for both North and South
Free-Soil Ideology
i. North—“Free Soil” and “Free Labor”
1. damage to society in general
ii. “Slave Power Conspiracy”
1. South desires to destroy capitalist system of the North
iii. Republicans and growth and progress
The Pro-Slavery Argument
i. Intellectual defense of slavery
1. peace, prosperity, and order
a. northern urban slums decried
2. Black inferiority assumed
Buchanan and Depression
i. Election of 1856
1. James Buchanan—Dem, PA—safe from Kansas mess
2. John C. Fremont—Rep, CA—antislavery and economics
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3. Millard Fillmore—Am, NY
ii. Financial panic beginning in 1856
1. many Dem. shift to Rep. party—S blamed for depression
The Dred Scott Decision—(March, 1857)
i. Scott—MO slave, taken to IL and WI territory, (Ft. Snelling)
ii. Sues for freedom after master dies
1. claims residence in free territory trumps ownership
iii. Lower courts support, but fed. courts say Blacks not citizens
iv. Stunning defeats for abolitionists—Slaves property
v. Missouri Compromise ruled unconstitutional
1. no fed. Authority to deprive citizens of property
2.